Bowled Over By The Broken

No matter how close you are to them, there are certain things you just don't say.
No matter how lonely you feel, there are certain people you just don't befriend.
No matter how much you've fallen, there's always a guy you shouldn't give your heart...

Chapter 15: Congratulations on making it to my hate list!

"All men as in the entire male population," she hurriedly replied, her hands moving in exaggerated motion.

"Are you having guy problems?"

When Anabya gave him a blank look, he said, "It's the first time you are studying in a co-ed, I need to know if there are any guys I need to punch."

"I'm not a baby, Bhai," she dead-panned, resisting the urge to let him know of a guy who deserved more than a punch.

"But still, Bee, you are the baby of the family."

"I'm twenty one, you know."

"And I also know guys, Anabya. They can be worse than you imagine."

"Bhai, you're insulting your own kind."

"Look, Bee, I know how a guy's brain works. There are good guys, there are bad guys, and there are ones with a facade. Know matter how mature and big you think you are, if, and I pray you don't, but still if you find any issue in this department, you come to me, okay? I know you are big enough to take care of yourself but this is something I don't want you to deal with, you hear me?"

She nodded, not really sure why she suddenly felt the urge to cry.

Tell him.

Tell him.

Tell him.

Her mind urged her to tell him about Shamaaz, not the complete details but at least a hint. However, she gave up the last second.

"Now if we could discuss this Nutella jar," Anabya started, diverting from the topic.

"Blame it on the boys," Aamina said, coming into the room carrying a freshly bathed Sulaiman.

"Boys?"

"I was reprimanding Furqaan for downing half the jar and in the middle of it we heard a clanking sound from the kitchen. Upon walking in, we found Sulaiman with both his hands in Nutella, his face and shirt smeared with chocolate, finishing the rest of the contents his dad had left."

While that was too adorable and funny, Anabya said, "I don't think we can afford to have another Nutella lover in the family. That's just too much competition!"

"Since Aamina isn't a fan of it, I wouldn't mind if our boy got her genes in this case but alas..." Furqaan sighed.

"You are so awesome that all your genes were dominating, right?" Aamina finished his insinuation.

"Now that you've said the truth, I'm not one to deny," he grinned cheekily.

"It feels like there's a role reversal in your relationship. Furqaan Bhai is the one who looks for attention and complements," Anabya joked, and Aamina laughed and high fived her.

"Not funny," Furqaan sulked. "My lady can be demanding too."

"Of course, you need constant reminders that other people are around you, you know?"

"Oh don't worry, I wouldn't forget that. You'll won't understand my plight of being the only man amongst four women! Torture I tell you! But it's alright, I have my boy to give me company now."

"Be grateful for all the pampering you receive from us. You're spoilt by now!"

"Grass on the other side is always green," he drawled, secretly agreeing that he was probably spoilt with the amount of love and care all these ladies gave him.

Alhamdulilah for family!

A couple of hours later, when they had finished dinner and Anabya was done with Salah and reciting Qur'an, she logged into her Facebook account since they had a project on street photography.

She was looking through some of the pages when a message popped up.

And when she opened it curiously, she didn't know how to feel about the fact that it was from Shamaaz Salman Abdulla.

She had tried very hard to not think of the entire encounter the past couple of hours. She had cried and cribbed about it but the bottom line was she had to deal with it. However, this guy, like always, had a way to annoy her every time she kept her cool.

Shamaaz: Hey 'Bya. You there?

Where will I go? She thought to herself.

Shamaaz: Don't be angry, come on.

Who are you to tell me what I need to do?

Shamaaz: I told you it was a mistake.

And not once did you apologise for it. Not like I need one.

Shamaaz: There are so many reasons for you to maintain a cordial relationship with me. To begin with, we're neighbours. And then, we study in the same university. Your mum likes me, your brother has become a good acquaintance. I can literally write a book on 1000 reasons to like me.

'I can write a book on 100000000 × infinity ways to dislike you,' she thought.

Shamaaz: Please don't be mad.

Why do you care?

Shamaaz: Bya come on. I'll erase the things I read out of my memory. Let's pretend like this never happened.

It doesn't work like that.

Shamaaz: I'll get you chocolates.

Shamaaz: I'll get you flowers.

Shamaaz: I'll write you apology letters.

Shamaaz: Damn it, Anabya. I know you aren't like other girls. Tell me how can I make up for this?

Shamaaz: Can you at least reply to me? I know you're online.

Do I care? Nope.

Since he forced so much, Anabya decided it was about time she replied to him.

Thus, dragging the cursor to his name, she jumped to his profile and replied to all his question with a single click.